Natsu Tanimoto
Natsu Tanimoto (Tanimoto Natsu, 谷本 なつ) or Hermit (Hāmitto, ハーミット) was the Sixth Fist of 'Ragnarok, and is now the disciple of '''Sougetsu Ma, holder of the Moon Symbol of Yomi and is one of Kenichi's main rivals and is currently a second year student at Koryou High School. Ragnarok Saga: 'Valkyrie Arc' Hermit first appears when he, Valkyrie and''' Loki' of 'Ragnarok's Eight Fists' defeat an entire gang by themselves. According to 'Shinnosuke Tsuji, Hermit was supposed to participate in lynching '''Ikki Takeda for leaving Ragnarok, but he ultimately chooses to observe the ensuing battle. 'Hermit Arc' He confronts the then-newly established Shinpaku Alliance and demands to know where Kenichi Shirahama learned martial arts, but the Shinpaku Alliance manage to escape from him. Not long after, he transfers to Koryou High School as a first year student and appears to be a model student, excelling at both academics and athletics, tutoring other students and infatuating many of the female students. He becomes the president of the school's Drama Club and is cast as Romeo in its Romeo and Juliet play, opposite Miu Furinji who is cast as Juliet. When a group of delinquents damage the set of the play, Natsu attempts to fight them but is quickly overwhelmed, prompting Kenichi to save him. In reality, however, Natsu had ordered the delinquents to attack the set as Hermit so he could observe Kenichi fight. When the delinquents leave upon realizing who Kenichi is, Natsu secretly beats them, which leads to Haruo Niijima spreading the story that Kenichi was the one to beat them. After getting into an argument with Kenichi, Hermit attacks Kenichi when he is walking home with Miu Furinji. The fight ends in a draw, and Hermit leaves to train for a rematch. 'Clash with the Fists Arc' When he returns, he begins fighting other delinquents on the street. This leads to him saving Honoka Shirahama when she is attacked by delinquents and takes her to his house to treat her wounds. He soon grows fond of her because she reminds him of his late younger sister. When he and Loki find out that she is Kenichi's younger sister, Loki decides to kidnap her to lure Kenichi. While Natsu protests this, Loki blackmails him by tricking him into thinking that Kensei has ordered Loki to kill Kenichi. Nonetheless, Loki initially allows Hermit to fight Kenichi, but when the battle proves to be even, Loki interrupts it by threatening to kill Honoka if Kenichi continues to fight back. When Hermit refuses to continue fighting, Loki attacks Kenichi. Eventually, Hermit decides to rescue Honoka and announces to Loki that he has now decided to quit Ragnarok. Odin then appears and reveals that Loki had deceived Hermit by using Kensei's name and offers to give Hermit a chance to return to Ragnarok, but is turned down. After Odin and Loki leave, Hermit and Kenichi continue their battle, and Hermit is defeated. The two are treated at the Ryōzanpaku and while Natsu returns to school the next day, he vows to defeat Kenichi someday. 'Final Clash Arc' After leaving Ragnarok, he is constantly pestered by Niijima to join the Shinpaku Alliance, but constantly turns him down. Eventually, he comes to aid Shinpaku in order to get revenge on Loki during their final battle against Ragnarok, but when Berserker defeats Loki, he decides to fight Berserker. Hermit is victorious, and watches Kenichi fight Odin. When Odin orders his men to kill them, Hermit and the Shinpaku Alliance fight off most of the remaining men in Ragnarok. Yami/YOMI Saga: 'Snow Summit Arc' Tanimoto and the rest of the class go on a school ski trip and he pretends to have fun most the time. When Kenichi and Miu go missing, he goes out to find them with (albet begrudgingly) Niijima. The two of them find Kenichi fighting Radin Tidat Jihan and helps fight against the weaker foes so Kenichi can fight Jihan. After Kenichi and Jihan fall off the cliff, Tanimoto and Niijima find a sick Miu and he notes she's got a fever and they get her out of there. Tanimoto has Niijima take Miu while he goes to find Kenichi and barely manages to save him from getting buried alive by Jenazad and forces Kenichi to stay on while Jihan is buried alive. They arrive back in the morning and Tanimoto has the school take care of Miu and Kenichi. 'DofD Tournament Arc' Hermit's role in the Yomi arc is relatively small compared to the other Shinpaku members. He takes care of Kenichi for a short time away from Ryozanpaku and temporarily feels it is okay for Kenichi to stay with him after seeing Apachai knock him out. He also has information gathering operatives that work under him to help get information on martial artists or organizations throughout the underground world of martial artists. He transports members of the Shinpaku Alliance to the D of D tournament in his own boat, but unlike the others, his intention is not to participate in it; but rather to find his master. He is believed to be dead when his boat is blown up by the missile defenses of the private island where the tournament occurs and the rest of the members of Shinpaku are unable to find him. He later shows up alive on the island, finds Sougetsu and trains under him again. He comes to the aid of the Shinpaku alliance in their fight against Fortuna under orders from Sogetsu to fight with a master class and plays a pivotal role in defeating him by using the Kyousa to significantly damage Fortuna. Afterwards, he yells with the others for Kenichi to get up and fight Sho and states if he loses he'll kill Kenichi first. He later admits his relief that Kenichi won and later leaves with his master. Sometime after returning home, he is greeted by Seta and Hayami and he is greatly shocked to hear that Sho is dead and even mourns his loss. 'Yomi in School Arc' He is later called "Natsu-chan" instead of "Tanimoto-kun" by Kenichi during the camping trip, which he abhors to the extent of wanting to attack Kenichi. During Boris' attack, Tanimoto attacks the other soldiers, who make note that he was not listed as a member of Shinpaku Alliance, which was likely based on the list of Shinpaku Alliance members from the D of D tournament, as well as the fact that he was largely absent for its duration. He also seems to be interested in James Shiba as a master and wishes to see his improvements on Takeda since the DofD tournament. During the second fight between Kenichi and Takeda, Tanimoto was rather amazed by the fact that Takeda could even use Ryuusei Seikuken, one of the Elder's 108 techniques that was only shown to have been taught to Kenichi, yet Takeda managed to use it. This could be an indication that Tanimoto is interested in fighting Takeda when he is stronger. 'Weapon Fighters Arc' Natsu Tanimoto's master Ma Sougetsu is revealed to be a member of Yami and has asked for Tanimoto to be the new member with the symbol of the moon of YOMI. In the fight for the YOMI position, he faces the temporary member named Chou Enshin in a death match. Facing the disadvantage of fighting a stronger and faster fighter, Tanimoto is almost overwhelmed by his opponent and even loses consciousness for a few moments. While unconscious and trying to get back up, he sees his long death younger sister and Honoka, and even to his surprise and annoyance, Kenichi, who he rectantly realizes has become one of the closet people in his life. He also realized that, despite Kenichi's oddities and las of talent, Kenichi regularly persists in fighting stronger people. He strikes himself in the head to calm down, a tactic formerly used by Kenichi while fighting Odin, and finally manages to defeat his opponent, earning the symbol of the Moon and become the tenth official member of YOMI. Kenichi finds out about this and is shocked and angry, however, he calms down once hearing from Akisame that Natsu has a reason for doing what he does and since he has not done anything bad yet he feels okay about it. 'Okinawa Arc' When the Shinpaku Alliance planned to follow Ryozanpaku to Okinawa, Natsu refused to go despite being asked by Takeda. Natsu is shown in a Yami base with Kajima, Rachel, and Chikage during the the time that Ryozanpaku attacked the Okinawa Yami base. When Kajima had tried to use his mind reading ability on Natsu, Kajima was unable to read his thoughts and stated that Hermit is skilled at concluding his heart. 'The Tidat Kingdom Arc' Later at school, Kenichi asked him about Sho's background and only told him what he knew about the guy. When Miu is kidnapped by Jenazad, Tanimoto shows sympathy towards Kenichi and even smiles when Kenichi regains his fire to save her. Then he was asked by Kenichi on when was he here, resuoting him into becoming silent. 'Return to Japan Arc' Following Miu's return and Jenazad's death, Tanimoto was absent from school for a while while attending YOMI's meetings. After coming back to school, he tells Kenichi not to let his guard down, but the latter wants to talk to him privately. During the insuing conversation, Hermit explains Ogata's talent in raising powerful disciples, although this only makes Kenichi wonder whether or not he would kidnap her the same way Jenazad did. Tanimoto claims that he will just make her into fodder for his own disciples before issuing a cryptic warning to his rival, saying that the enemy will come after more than just him, and someone will probably die in the upcoming battle. Kenichi refutes this claim and asserts that he won't let that happen to anyone, momentarily impressing Hermit. 'Titan Arc' During a mass training session for the Shinpaku Alliance, Tanimoto appears at the alliance's headquarters playing another game with Honoka, his skills impressing her this time. When Nijima tries to kick Rachel Stanley out of their hideout, she points out that since they let Hermit hang around, she should also be allowed. Kenichi happily considers the visiting YOMI members his comrades, but Tanimoto is called away alongside Rachel and Chikage to participate in a mission. Upon arriving at the YOMI base, the trio encounter Ryūto Asamiya and two of Ogata's other disciples, one of which is revealed to be his old enemy, Berserker. Mikumo Kushinada enters the room and greets the gathered disciples, citing their past defeats to practitioners of the Saving Fist philosophy. She tosses a series of shuriken at them, but the YOMI members manage to dodge and counter with relative ease. Berserker then tells his fellow disciples off for underestimating their opponents before pondering out loud what kind of fights they've been in. He is then called back with Chikage and Rachel as Mikumo pairs them with Berserker and Lugh as she sends them to kill Kenichi and his friends. He later arrives at the amusement park with the other YOMI members. At night, he appears behind Siegfried and prepares to fight him. Sieg notes this is the choice he made and always had suspicion with him and declares he will force him back to their side stating he won't preach to bad children who don't listen. They continue to fight as Siegfried complements his improved skills as Hermit does to Siegfried. Siegfried then asks why doesn't he play the "ensemble of friendship" with them but Hermit says it can't be helped due to how things ended up and all things must come to an end. Siegfried disagrees and clashes with him stating there are some things that will never end and this surprises Hermit as part of his coat is cut. Their battle continues with both sides complimenting each others skills as Siegfried says he won't speak to someone as an equal who won't accept friendship which Hermit refuses to do so and they clash. Eventually, Sieg is defeated by Hermit noting the slight difference in strength, demanding he realize what friends do to help polish ones skills. Hermit acknowledges his increased skills but tells him to not try to look down on himafter losing. Siegfried just scoffs stating his reason that he still has a ways to go and if he'd fought with Kenichi now, he would definately lose, much to Hermit's annoyance, realizing he should have fought Kenichi instead and decides not to kill Siegfried. 'The Eternal Sunset Arc' Hermit was seen present when Kajima introduced disciples from the weapons team. When he asked Kajima if he should stop Rachel from attacking Hyougo, Kajima laughed stating this was likely to happen. After Shigure's abduction, Kenichi asks him at school if he knows anything, and, after giving a serious look, Kenichi figures he's processing what he said and doesn't know for certain where she is. Then Kenichi tells him he can't have Honoka which prompts a comical outburst from Tanimoto. Natsu is later seen with the rest of the yomi disciples preparing for the eternal sunset. When Nijima lead the Shinpaku Alliances (which the exception of few, i.e, non-combators) and one Military man to the other end of the island as per request, Natsu was seen together with the Yomi and disciples from Haichou Executioner on the top of the cliff. He was later seen with the rest of YOMI (minus Kajima) facing the Shinpaku Alliance. After Kenichi, Miu and Niijima escape, he and the other disciples charge the Shinpaku Alliance. However, Hermit and the other unarmed YOMI disciples remain on the sidelines during the ensuring battle. He then reacts surprised in seeing Chikage seemingly changed from before. Trivia *He is a member of both Yomi and the Shinpaku Alliance. *His nickname Hermit is a references the norse god Odin's habit of traveling Midgard as an old man. This relationship carries further on to Hermit's admission into YOMI, when he is a fellow member of the top ten alongside Odin. *Out of all of the members of the Shinpaku Alliance, only he and Takeda have well known masters who have ties with Ryozanpaku. *In recent chapters, Hermits intention of joining yomi was finaly revealed, early in his life he failed to save his sisters life and so he joined yomi so he could save Sougetsu Ma from the darkness. Category:YOMI Category:History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi character Category:Shinpaku Alliance Category:Ragnarok Category:Characters Category:Kenichi's Rivals Category:Chinese Kenpo Users Category:Expert Category:Male Category:Dou Category:Hakkyokuken Category:Hakkyokuken Users Category:Hikaken Category:Hikaken Users